Homemade Smoked Sausage
Really tasty, free of additives, and not hard at all — you've got to try it. Smoked sausage is easy enough to make at home; all you need is a smoker, a stuffing attachment, and casings. You can use any spices you like, so the result comes out a little different and unique every time.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
How do you make hot-smoked sausage at home? Gather everything on the list. It's best to use fresh meat that hasn't been frozen. For this recipe I used pork and beef, but you could use poultry or anything else.
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Step 2:
Trim the sinew and membrane off the meat and cut it into small pieces. Add the salt and spices and mix thoroughly. Adjust the salt and spices to your taste — you may want a bit less than the recipe calls for. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to marinate for a few hours; I usually leave it overnight.
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Step 3:
Chop the fresh fatback as finely as you can. It's easier to cut if you chill it in the freezer first, and use a sharp knife with a thin blade.
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Step 4:
Add the fatback to the meat and mix everything well. You can run the mixture through a meat grinder or leave it chopped as is.
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Step 5:
Prepare the casings. Soak them in water for 10–15 minutes, then drain and rinse them once more in cold water.
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Step 6:
Using the stuffing attachment, pack the meat mixture into the casings. Don't pack them too tightly, or the casing can split during cooking.
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Step 7:
Make the sausages whatever length suits you. Prick the casing in several spots with a thin needle to let trapped air escape.
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Step 8:
Cover the sausages with cold water and set the pot on the stove.
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Step 9:
Just before it boils, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and poach the sausage for about 30–40 minutes. It's important that the water never boils hard — too much bubbling risks splitting the casing.
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Step 10:
Lift the sausages out of the water and let them cool completely.
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Step 11:
Set up the smoker. Line the bottom with foil and light the charcoal or firewood.
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Step 12:
While the fire burns down, soak the wood chips in cold water. Use fruitwood chips for smoking.
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Step 13:
Squeeze out the chips and spread them in a thin, even layer over the coals.
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Step 14:
Lay the sausages on the rack, leaving a little space between them. Cover the smoker and let them smoke for 30–40 minutes. The temperature should hold at 195–230°F (90–110°C).
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Step 15:
This is how the sausages look after 15 minutes of smoking.
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Step 16:
And here's the finished product.
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Step 17:
Leave the sausage out in the fresh air until it's fully cooled.
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Step 18:
Time for the first taste!
- To give the sausages an appetizing reddish color, I used curing salt and table salt in a 1:1 ratio — that is, 10 g of regular salt and 10 g of pink curing salt. Hot-smoked sausage is perfect for sandwiches, or it'll dress up a holiday table as a beautiful platter of cold cuts! Enjoy!
- For this recipe it's better to use fresh meat rather than frozen, or the finished sausage may turn out dry.
- If you use a ready-made spice mix, be sure to read the ingredient list on the package. These blends often already contain salt — keep that in mind so you don't over-salt the dish.
- Since everyone's preference for saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, heat, acidity, and spiciness is different, always add spices and seasonings to your own taste! And if you're using a seasoning for the first time, remember that some are especially easy to overdo (chili pepper, for one).
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Melted beef fat - 871 kcal/100g
- Fat beef - 171 kcal/100g
- Lean beef - 158 kcal/100g
- Beef brisket - 217 kcal/100g
- Beef sirloin - 380 kcal/100g
- Beef - lean roast - 200 kcal/100g
- Beef shoulder - 137 kcal/100g
- Beef - ribs - 233 kcal/100g
- Beef - round - 104 kcal/100g
- Beef - tail - 184 kcal/100g
- Boiled ham - 269 kcal/100g
- Beef corned beef - 216 kcal/100g
- Fat pork - 333 kcal/100g
- Pork meat - 357 kcal/100g
- Pork - low-fat roast - 184 kcal/100g
- Pork chop on a bone - 537 kcal/100g
- Pork - schnitzel - 352 kcal/100g
- Pork Shoulder - 593 kcal/100g
- Wild boar leg - 113 kcal/100g
- Pork - 259 kcal/100g
- Pork fat - 871 kcal/100g
- Rendered pork fat - 947 kcal/100g
- Pork rinds - 895 kcal/100g
- Salo - 797 kcal/100g
- Fatback - 658 kcal/100g
- Granulated sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Pepper - 26 kcal/100g
- Garlic powder - 331 kcal/100g
- Pork casings - 602 kcal/100g
